Can Lifestyle Medicine Improve Global Mental Health?

Rationale: The global impact of mental health, specifically depression, is expected to be a top concern by 2030.Despite the growing number of medications and interventions, access to resources for well-being, psychiatric medications, and psychotherapy continues to be a long-standing barrier, regardless of a person's socioeconomic position or wealth of their country.Objectives: This article will review the relevance of the lifestyle psychiatry pillars for treating depression and will also include a review of their impact on climate health.Methods: A systematic review was undertaken using predefined search criteria on PubMed and Google Scholar.Results: There is a bidirectionality between mental health and physical illness as individuals with poor mental health have higher comorbid medical conditions and vice versa, which further supports a common theory to chronic illness (both physical and mental).Lifestyle interventions show increased efficacy in the treatment of chronic illness, and the same interventions positively support climate health.Conclusions: The benefits of lifestyle interventions are often overlooked, but they are scientifically significant, well-tolerated by patients, and can address modalities of illness.Lifestyle psychiatry can become an integral tool for global mental health providers.